Talk:List of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: hamiltonstone (talk) 23:49, 11 March 2010 (UTC) This article is well-structured and contains interesting information and graphics. It appears neutral and stable. All images appear to be in order. There are two general issues with this article:

• Lack of referencing for major historical facts
• Somewhat inadequate coverage of historical information.

Examples of unreferenced info:

• The abolition of the constituency of St Albans in 1852.
• All of these facts: "In 1950 South West Hertfordshire was formed from part of the old Watford constituency, and for the following general election in 1955 East Hertfordshire was created from parts of Hitchin and Hertford. The next national boundary change affecting Hertfordshire came into effect for the February 1974 election. Four new constituencies were introduced, however three of these were replaced at the next national boundary change in 1983, as were Hitchin and East Hertfordshire. The 1983 boundary review saw the formation of Broxbourne, Hertford and Stortford, Hertsmere, Hitchin and Harpenden, Stevenage and North Hertfordshire, although the latter was replaced by North East Hertfordshire in 1997."

Inadequate coverage issue:

• The article states that "the demographics of voters in the county changed significantly" (up to the mid 20th century). However, the next sentences only paint a national figure, and no informaiton is provided on the way these facts (national population growith, changes in suffrage) affected the county. Not all counties grew, and some population centres i believe may have declined. Also, the number of MPs in the Parliament may also have changed. How did these factors account for whatever changes occurred in the county?

I emphasise the historical information because it is important in an article on the parliamentary constituencies (as distinct from a list of the constituencies, for which this information would be less significant). Other points:

• Is there a reason the referencing for the timeline table stops at East Hertfordshire?
• Refs need to show publisher of the David Boothroyd piece (footnote 1)

It's still a very promising article, and I'll put it on hold for now. Ping me with any queries. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:49, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Additional remarks from S Marshall

• Thanks to Hamiltonstone for bringing this to my attention! Fascinating article.
• I agree with the remarks about references, and if you can get to Hertford easily, I would recommend a visit to the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies ("HALS") centre which is situated right next to County Hall on Pegs Lane. There, you should be able to find excellent references to support what you say.
• In terms of the "inadequate coverage issue" Hamiltonstone mentions, the population explosion in Hertfordshire at that time is well-documented in local sources, and you can probably just cut and paste references for Hertfordshire-specific figures from the first paragraph of History of Hertfordshire#Modern era if you wish.
• When talking about the 1974 boundary shift, you might want to add a couple of sentences concerning Royston (which was, until 1974, half in Hertfordshire and half in Cambridgeshire).
• If you were going for FA status then I'd have a lot more to say, but in terms of GA, I think if the referencing concerns were addressed, this would be very nearly there.

Cheers!—S Marshall ^Talk/_Cont 00:23, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks SMarshall, but I'm not sure there's anyone else involved in this article. I'm just the reviewer, and on the other side of the world for good measure. Are you able to assist in improving the article at all? hamiltonstone (talk) 00:30, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

I should probably have explained that by "you", I mean the nominator rather than the reviewer!

I'm very happy indeed to support or help the nominator in improving this article, and I have a rather useful bookshelf for this sort of thing. If I need to do the improvement myself, then I think getting History of Hertfordshire over the bar into FA status is probably a higher priority for me in the short term.—S Marshall ^Talk/_Cont 00:44, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Comments by Nev1 (talk · contribs)

There's a what might appear to be original research, for example "the demographics of voters in the county changed significantly, with four new towns being designated in the county in the three years from 1946–48". The sources mention the new towns, but not a change in demographics. Although they probably did, given the massive population change. Superficially, the article has the appearance of being well sourced, but as has been pointed out the sources do not cover all the information in the article. Volume 2 of the Victoria County History for Hertfordshire has 40 or 50 pages on the county's political history, so presumably there'll be something in there on parliamentary constituencies; I think some more information on who could vote and parliamentary reforms would be useful, although I'm not sure how important in a GA, but if I come across the stuff in the course of reading I'll add it anyway. VCH can be a dense read, so it may be slow going. Also, it only goes up to the start of the 20th century, and won't help regarding stuff such as the new towns. Nev1 (talk) 18:15, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Closing review

I'm going to close this as a fail. I know there a re a couple of editors keen to improve the article, and once they do, i would be grateful if one of them were to re-nominate this at GA, and they can ping me and ask me to do another review if they wish and then hopefully it won't have to wait two months in the queue as it did last time. Regards, hamiltonstone (talk) 21:50, 31 March 2010 (UTC)